I hate people...

So, I leave for work today at 5:15. I start at 6:00. (This is all PM, mind you.) It takes me roughly 25 minutes to get to work. Ergo, I have a 20 minute window. I decide to use said window to get a last meal of taco bell, because I plan to start eating much healthier come wednesday when I get my braces off. Now, I wasn't going to go inside; just drive through and eat on the way.

I pull into the drivethru lane, and there's 3 cars in front of me, plus whoever else has already pulled around to the first side window. (Author's note: actually, I think taco bell only has one window anyway...) And I'm sitting there in line thinking "Do I have time for this, or don't I?" As I do with most things in life, I decide to wait a bit and gather more information before making a decision. (I believe it was Descartes who argued that it was only man's limited knowledge of the future that prevented us from being perfect.) So I wait a minute, and the cars are going at a decent rate (wound up being about 1.5 minutes per car), and I figure even if it took me 4 minutes to get my food, that still left me with 10 minutes to spare, so I wait it out and place my order.

I drive around, and there are only two cars left in front of me. The one immediately in front is a BMW; not sure what first car was. However, the guy in front was waving his hand around angrily towards the girl in the window. She was holding his receipt in her hand. She disappears, returns with the receipt. More angry hand waving (including that index-finger-up bullshit that indicates "I'm talking and you're going to wait") and girl disappears with receipt again. I call work and tell them I've "run into something 'traffic-y' and might be a few minutes late." More money gets exchanged. More food is passed out. Another receipt arguing scenario. Finally, the guy pulls off. It's been, no lie, 12 minutes. I'm frustrated, but figure I still have time, so no biggie.

BMW pulls up to the window. I can tell from my flanking position that the total on the screen is for my order (unless the BMW ordered the exact same thing; it didn't). There a brief altercation as the woman in the BMW not-so-kindly explains that it wasn't her total. (I couldn't hear the woman's words, but I picked up tone and hand motion again; and I could hear the girl apologizing.) Soda is passed into the car and girl turns back (presumably to go get the food). Soda is in the car no more than 20 seconds, and then it's back in the woman's hand and hanging out the window. She's frantically trying to get the attention of the girl and ultimately resorts to yelling through the window (I can barely make out the "excuse me!"). Girl comes back, listens a minute, and takes the soda back inside. A few moments later, returns with a cup to the window (not sure if it's the same one or not), and proceeds to wipe it down with a napkin before she hands it out the window. I'm not 100% sure what had happened, but if I had to guess, I'd say the soda had some perspiration on it, and the BMW woman didn't want it ruining her fancy car. 8 minutes later, the woman drives off and it's my turn.

I pull up to the window and, dejectedly but professionally nice, she says "I'm really sorry about your wait." I say "Is it me, or were the two cars in front of me total douches?" She hesitates for a second, processing what a customer has just told her before smiling more genuinely and says "yeah." I reply "I kinda thought so, and I wasn't even the one who had to deal with them." I give her my money. A minute later she gives me my food. I slip her an extra five dollar bill. "Don't let yuppie shitheads get you down," I tell her. She kinda looks at the money, then at me, and manages a surprised "Thank you."

Now, you may ask why I gave a total stranger $5 for nothing, and here's your answer. After who I've become as a person (i.e. not willing to take shit from people) and the time I've spent as a server in a restaurant (begrudgingly taking shit from people), if I were in her shoes, I would have undoubtedly kirked-out on the second customer (if not the first). The fact that she stayed apologetic and calm to them, and managed to smile and be nice to me speaks volumes of her character, I think. And, again, if I were in her shoes and had just put up with all that, an understanding soul who was willing to try to make it all better would've gone a long way to actually doing just that. So hopefully I managed to balance out the good/bad ratio of her night. (Of course, the important-looking business woman behind me probably gave her an earful too, so there goes that theory...)

The moral of the story? Going to taco bell will make you late for work, no matter how much of a window you have. Also, if you have a problem with your fast food, take it up inside rather than hold up the whole fucking drive through lane!